


A Face for Radio

by offwhxte



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Fluff, Library Enthusiast Spencer, M/M, Single Parent Hotch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 04:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10801692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/offwhxte/pseuds/offwhxte
Summary: Aaron has some second thoughts regarding his new internet friend.





	A Face for Radio

Aaron looked down at his phone as it pinged and he grinned to himself. The new mandatory work phones they were given a month ago had originally doted on him as a distraction from his work, so he'd often forgone initiating in anything other than work on it—it was for the FBI, after all. He didn't want to get caught up in anything crazy a day or two before a surprise check up on their phones. Not that they'd have one unless they thought it was a distraction. Which Aaron thought it was.  

He met Spencer online in one of the chatting forums for single parents or guardians, often full of advice and group healing. Almost like a support group, but far less formal. Spencer had rushed to the site in order to get information on how to properly make sure a kid is padded up enough to ride a bike, and Aaron jumped in with some suggestions for knee pad brands. The next morning, Spencer sent a heartfelt thank you surrounded by emoticons and images that Aaron wasn't sure were relevant, and they talked from there. Spencer was young, not young enough that he couldn't have a kid, but he had just been watching his friend's son. 

Spencer was funny. He made jokes that not everyone could understand, and even Aaron had to Google the significance of some of them. But it was nice without effort to talk to someone and mindlessly flirt when he knew it wasn't going anywhere. But it was going somewhere, somewhere off the tracks, and people were starting to notice how much the grumpy man in the tie was smiling recently. 

Of course, everything was going fine until that one, single message popped up on his screen, and his smile faltered.  

 _Haha. I wouldn't know what it's like_ _to have people pounce on me_ _. I have a face for radio._  

Aaron raised an eyebrow at the words. He wasn't sure what feeling was stirring in his gut, but it wasn't a comfortable one. He'd had his own visions of what Spencer looked like, but with that sentence, everything was washed away and he felt a bit vulnerable. Didn't everyone want to meet an attractive stranger on the internet who would whisk them away without any doubt? Especially when the person being whisked off is a single parent. He wondered what Spencer looked like, then, and if there was any merit to his words other than self-deprecation. 

A few weeks went by of Aaron's one-syllable responses, still unsure as to why he felt so uncomfortable with this all of a sudden. Was he really so vain, that he would drop a friend just because of such a simple and dumb statement that may or may not have meant anything? 

His phone buzzed in his suit pocket. _Hey, I'm back in town. If you're free...?_  

His breath hitched in his throat. Could he? Sure, the office was dull and people were practically falling asleep at their desks. Maybe the real question was if he wanted to. 

 **Sure. Do you have any place in mind?**  

 _There's a library near the big iron-shaped statue downtown..._  

 **Sounds good.**  

Aaron gathered his things, taking a bit less time than he expected to. This would be the time, if any, to put a face to the snarky texts he'd been getting for almost two months. If he didn't like the guy, he'd change his username on the website, if he even wanted to stay. Which he probably wouldn't. 

Aaron sighed. How could a profiler be so worried about looks in this way? He was almost sure Spencer wasn't a serial killer. So what was the deal? Maybe he was overreacting. Yeah, he was probably overreacting. 

The library was small, dainty, but nothing short of amazing for downtown. The street had been overrun by night clubs and smoke shops, so the innocence of a library made him smile. The thought of Spencer made him smile, regardless of the rumble in his stomach. He pushed the door open. It was relatively empty, but that was to be expected of a library crushed in between a bar and a vape store. 

"Can I help you?" One of the old ladies behind the counter murmured quietly, adjusting her glasses. 

"Hi, I'm looking for--" 

"I've got him." 

Aaron turned on his heel to see a skinny man (wearing what looked like the softest sweater ever) staring at him with gleaming eyes. It didn't dawn on him that this was Spencer until the man grabbed his hand and dragged him across the room behind some bookshelves, his sleeve riding up to show the wristwatch they'd spoken about a week earlier.  

"I went ahead and checked this book out for you," Spencer said, his voice round and smiling as he shoved a hardcover into Aaron's suited chest. "So you won't look suspicious leaving without a book. I think you'll like it, though." 

Aaron nodded dumbly, "Hi." 

"Oh, hi," Spencer held out his hand. "I usually don't shake stranger's hands, but I feel like I've known you forever." 

"You too..." He couldn't stop staring. Spencer certainly didn't look anything like what he'd imagined, but somehow it was way better. His smile was so wide and his eyes were so nice, and... he had so much _hair..._  

"You look a lot different from what I thought you would," Spencer nodded curtly. "The suit is a bit more than I expected. Fits the alpha male archetype I put you under though." 

"Well, I just came from work, so..." Aaron shifted on his feet and looked down to the book in his hands. "What's this?" 

"A guide to parenting written in the 1800's. Reprinted and everything. If not for some ancient tips for punishment and stuff, I think it would be a funny thing to read." Spencer grinned and knocked on the cover, "There's a chapter about protection while riding new fangled vehicles that were popping up during the Industrial Revolution that's hilarious." 

"This kind of stuff strikes you as funny?" Aaron asked, not with any venom or unkind disbelief in his voice, but more rather a playful tease. One that visibly made Spencer's shoulders relax. 

"Yeah!" Spencer nodded slowly, the smile on his lips curling downward as he tried to look less giddy as he jutted his thumb over his shoulder in some kind of casual ritual, "Do you wanna grab lunch, or?" 

Aaron stared for a long time. "You said you had a face for radio." 

"What? Oh," He blushed and tucked his hair behind his ear as he plucked the loose fibers of an old book that had caught his attention on the shelf, "I guess I did say that."  

"I hope you know it's not true..." 

Spencer narrowed his eyebrows, his face tightening into a suppressed smile. "What?" 

"You're really attractive. Is what I'm saying." Aaron breathed, "Like, I don't know why I'm so hung up on it since there was no way you would be any less than beautiful considering the way you handled yourself over an anonymous messaging board, but I... I don't know." 

Spencer beamed, "You profiled me over text?" 

"Well, yeah, I— _profiled?"_ Aaron squeaked. 

"I did the same for you. We share a friend in common," Spencer smiled, "I didn't ask her to do any research, but you know Penny, she does it anyways and leaves it on your porch with a neon pink feather pen and matching bow." 

"Pen—Garcia?" 

"That would be her, yes. Hope you didn't mind, I couldn't talk her out of it," Spencer shrugged, "She talks about the job a lot, so I picked up on some of the jargon." 

"Huh." The suit-clad man nodded thoughtfully, tapping his fingers on the spine of the book in his hands, "I guess if you found it out eventually, I shouldn't punish Garcia." 

"Actually, I don't think you could. She's super peppy these days, considering her boss is on a date with her best friend," Spencer said, glancing up to Aaron to see if he caught the word and if there was any negative reaction.  

"So this is a date." 

"Yes." 

"Then I guess we should get lunch, then." 

"Awesome!" Spencer cried, wincing as the lady behind the counter hushed him. "Sorry. Let's go! There's a place that has a lot of cool paintings on the walls and I think you'd be interested in them. You seem like a closeted abstract art lover." 

Aaron let himself be pulled along, giving a gentle wave to the ladies before tuning back in to hear Spencer jabbering about the origins of different shapes and sizes of vapes as they passed each respective shop. 


End file.
